HealthyStuff

HealthyStuff

HealthyStuff.org's mission is to research toxic chemicals found in everyday products. This site is based on research conducted by environmental health organizations and other researchers around the country. The Ecology Center created HealthyStuff.org and leads its research and development.

In 2011, 2012 and 2013, the Ecology Center tested over 200 garden hoses from national retailers. The hoses were tested for hazardous metals and bromine, an indicator of brominated flame retardants, and a subset were tested for phthalates. A small number of vinyl (PVC) hoses were also subjected to a water leaching test.

In 2016, we tested 32 hoses from Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Meijer, Target, and Walmart, of which 24 were PVC. The other eight were various types of polyurethane, synthetic rubber, and other polymers.

A number of US regulatory agencies are charged with addressing dangerous consumer products. In general, chemical hazards in consumer products are poorly regulated and outside a few examples (toys & some children's products) consumers are largely left unprotected. HealthyStuff still encourages consumers to report products related chemical hazards to the appropriate agency.

Vehicles and Car Seats: SaferCar.gov is the NHTSA site where you can identify and report problems you might be having with your vehicle, tires, equipment or car seats.

HealthyStuff.org ratings do not provide a measure of health risk or chemical exposure associated with any individual product, or any individual element or related chemical. HealthyStuff.org ratings provide only a relative measure of high, medium, and low levels of concern for several hazardous chemicals or chemical elements in an individual product in comparison to criteria established in the site methodology.

HealthyStuff Reports

In 2016, we tested 32 hoses from Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Meijer, Target, and Walmart. Individual product results are below. Click on a product for details from XRF and FTIR analyses.
Download the complete report here.

For the first time, because they were required by the State of Maine to report the information, manufacturers of paints and cleaning products available across the country have disclosed their uses of hormone‐disrupting phthalates (THAL‐eights), revealing the use of these chemicals as a fragrance ingredient in these products.

This product list includes the 192 cans that are part of the Report as well as 71 additional cans that were tested.
Search specific cans on our Product Search page. Or you can download the full data set of can lining results.